2020. 07. 31. – Announcement of University’s leadership concerning the autumn semester

In planning the upcoming semester, the biggest question is how to prepare for opening to students in the light of a looming second wave of COVID-19. The University is an educational (and not a healthcare) institution and as such cannot reasonably be expected to prevent or medically handle the pandemic, but rather to reduce epidemiological risks to a degree that allows us to maintain the functioning of the university. This principle might of course change, should a state of danger be declared again or should the government take any other measures. Based on the information that is currently available, however, we attempt to define a set of conditions that ensure the semester to be started in a quasi-normal way. The publication of the planned measures is expected until 7 August 2020 at the latest (in the form of Provisions of the Presidential Committee), their drafting and preparation being already underway. As for their contents, the substantial elements are anticipated as follows:

Lectures with more than 40 students will be held online (real-time, non-real-time), thus reducing epidemiological risks. In the case of courses with fewer participants, in-presence teaching is encouraged.

• For learning units with under 40 students (mainly seminars), the goal is in-presence teaching besides other forms of teaching that allow to optimise the number of students present simultaneously in the same airspace. The choice of such teaching forms shall be the duty and competence of the Institute Directors within the specified limits.
• In view of the fact that foreign students might face difficulties in entering the country and in finding accommodation, the option of online education should be ensured for them.
• The University is not able to provide dormitory accommodation to foreign students (including students participating in language courses at the Foreign Language Teaching Centre, in the Study Abroad programs or students of the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program), since the accommodation units are not suitable for public health practices as isolation and quarantine, which means that the stay of foreign students in Hungary is only possible at the students’ own risk.
• Wearing a mask (covering both the mouth and the nose) will be compulsory for both students and staff in the public spaces and in the classrooms of the University as well as when visiting study administration desks in case a safe distance cannot be kept or no other protection means are available.

The above measures doubtless constitute serious restrictions in our lives, but we see them as giving us a chance to operate in a close to normal way. We trust that the citizens of the University will act in a disciplined and responsible way to help keep up operations, just as they did during the spring semester.